Mattress Forum

Latex gold is made by a smaller New Zealand manufacturer of Dunlop Latex. They claim (or at least some of their dealers do) that they are 93% "pure" (Snugsleep claims 98%) and that they are a "premium" Dunlop latex and for which customers are prepared to pay a premium. While they look pretty good, I don't believe they are the purest or most "premium" Dunlop latex out there and Dunlop is certainly not the most expensive latex in the first place. I think that premium means relatively expensive products in their case. They are much more popular in Australia and NZ but they appear quite a bit in Canada as well. The snug sleep chain is one of the places that sell them as you know. John's bedrooms in Nanaimo carries them as well and for Dunlop they are quite pricey. I do like their Pacific mattresses though.

My impression of them is that they are a decent company with some interesting products (they have a latex core with an innerspring) but that they kind of live in a bubble. The information they have on their website indicates that they have no idea who their true competition is and they (and their dealers) still keep talking about the "clay filled latex" which I have yet to see from any reputable manufacturer which we tend to discuss on this forum (and there are many both Dunlop and Talalay). They also don't seem to realize that there is better Dunlop latex out there than theirs. Maybe that's part of the price you pay for living in such a beautiful but isolated part of the world.

From the pricing I have seen in various places for products using Latex Gold (many don't even have pricing which usually means "expensive") they seem more expensive than most of their competitors using other Dunlop latex which I also believe is better quality ... although all "natural dunlop" is a good product. They also don't seem to realize that there is natural Talalay in the world and that there are benefits to using blended Talalay as well. Ah the joys of marketing stories (smiling).

Since I am back in Canada, I do plan to visit the place on Esquimalt Rd. that carries them just to see them in person. There are other sources of latex in Canada though (Dunlop and Talalay) so if they are as much as I think they will be and/or if someone wanted Talalay in a mattress or a higher quality Dunlop latex that they didn't mind "shipping", then I would certainly look at other options which are likely to be less expensive.

Phoenix

http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/sleepyhead-expands-australia-132459

So as of November 1st Sleepyhead now owns the Dunlopillo brand as well as Latex Gold in Australia and I'm assuming the Dunlopillo Australian manufacturing facilities as well (the Dunlopillo brand is really fractured and it's products are produced in quite a few countries apparently). So they now can produce Polyurethane foams (Dunlop Foams), Dunlop latex foams (NZ Foam Latex) and Talalay latex (Dunlopillo). There aren't too many companies in the world that produce all 3 under single ownership.

Since they how have the rights to produce Talalay latex as well as Dunlop latex. I wonder if they will re-word the New Zealand Foam Latex website to be a little more accurate and a little less critical of Talalay latex. Since Sleepyhead has plans to be a major worldwide brand and not just expand in Australia/NZ, I wonder if we will start seeing more Latex Gold and/or Dunlopillo latex in North America. I wonder too it they can sell Dunlopillo in countries where the brand name is owned by someone else.

Phoenix

In any case it's nice to have a latex mattress nearby that I can try out and see if I like the feel.  It's expensive to get over to Vancouver just to mattress shop, but at some point I'll have to bite the bullet, I imagine.

Vancouver Island is paradise and is the CENTER of the world. If it's not important to us ... it's just not important :)

OK on to some mattress talk ... cause that really important! (laughing)

There's a place on Fort st http://www.goodplanet.com/ and they have a couple of what look like Sueno and Greensleep. They are all very nice mattresses and are also well worth laying on as the Sueno's especially are easy to duplicate and both are good quality.

Sleep country also carries the Zenbody by sealy. One of them is all latex (core and top with no poly believe it or not) and one of them is latex over poly. Also great testing grounds. We are lucky because in the States they are called the Embody and they don't have the all latex version.

http://www.thompsonsfoamshopsltdbc.ca/ says they have latex mattresses and maybe they would let you play around with layers.

http://www.sandysfurniture.ca/furniture/mattresses/ may have some latex in either the Simmons natural care line or the Serta Pure response or Vera wang line. I wouldn't buy any of these of course since they would both have too much poly but I sure would use them to test out preferences if they carry them.

These guys say they carry evereden latex mattresses but they look a lot like a home business that might just take orders rather than have them is stock. In another part of their site under new products they have some more but they are using the video from habitat furnishings in the US so if that's the one's they carry they will be expensive. Still, maybe more latex to play on and gather specs for your perfect mattress.

There's a whole bunch more mattress stores but I don't know if any of them carry any latex so I'd probably phone before I went to visit any of them.

Phoenix